Arakan News Agency
The PM told Suu Kyi that the Rohingya crisis should be solved by the two countries together
Myanmar has asked for the assistance of Bangladesh government to settle the much-talked Rohingya crisis.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Myanmar State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi discussed the matter during a meeting in New York Monday.
“At the meeting, Suu Kyi sought help of Bangladesh to solve the Rohingya issue. She informed the prime minister about the commission, led by former UN chief Kofi Annan, her country has formed to look into the crisis, and said that the matter would be resolved as per recommendation of the commission,” Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque said over the phone from New York.
“The premier told Suu Kyi that the matter should be solved by the two countries together,” the secretary said.
The Rohingya are considered by many in Myanmar to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and most do not have citizenship. They are prevented from moving freely and have their access to basic services restricted.
Suu Kyi, who is constitutionally barred from being president but leads the government as state counsellor and foreign minister, last month announced the nine-member commission, made up of six Myanmar citizens and three foreigners, to advise her government on the Rohingya issue.
The panel is tasked with stopping human rights abuses and bringing peace to the northwestern state of Rakhine where violence between Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims has cast a pall over the country’s democratic transition.
Suu Kyi has been criticised for doing too little to address the plight of the Rohingya minorities.
Myanmar law does not recognise the Rohingya as one of the country’s 135 official ethnic groups, making them stateless.
